Hovering in mid-air, Tony listened to Nick Fury's suppressed volcanic eruption of a question coming through the comms channel and, for a moment, didn't know how to respond.
He cleared his throat, attempting to bluff his way through with his usual flamboyant tone.
"Hey, Fury, relax. We just pulled off a big one, saved the world, you know? The world!"
"Sokovia is super safe now, not even a fly could get in."
After Tony finished speaking, dead silence fell on the other end of the communication.
After a full ten seconds, Fury's voice finally sounded again, sounding as if it was squeezed out from between his teeth.
"Stark."
"I damn well know not even a fly can get into Sokovia now."
"Because my satellite maps tell me there's not even a speck of Sokovia left!"
"Can you explain to me why... there's a country missing from the world map?!"
Fury's last words were practically a roar.
Tony's face twitched.
This... was really hard to explain.
He couldn't exactly say, 'My teammate just vaporized that piece of land,' could he?
"Uh... well, Fury, it's a bit complicated."
Tony stammered, "Simply put, Ultron's plan was to crash the city into Earth, you know, BOOM! World's end kind of thing."
"And then, we came up with a solution, a very environmentally friendly, very thorough solution."
"We... um... ground Sokovia."
Fury on the other end of the communication fell silent again.
Tony could even imagine the one-eyed director's dark expression right now.
"I don't care how you guys made a small country disappear."
Fury's voice carried a sense of weariness and powerlessness.
"This matter, the mess is too big, it's hard to clean up."
"Once you all return, we'll have a meeting. That's all."
With that, Fury unilaterally hung up the call.
Tony shrugged, a look of helplessness on his face.
Kara, holding a weakened Tel-Ror, flew in front of Tony.
She glanced at the pale man in her arms, then at the official aircraft beginning to gather in the distance, her brows tightly furrowed.
"I need to take him back to the North Pole."
Kara's tone was resolute.
"The Fortress of Solitude has Kryptonian medical equipment that can help him recover quickly."
Upon hearing this, Tony immediately objected.
What kind of international joke was this?
Just let this guy, who could single-handedly wipe out a country, run off like that?
Letting the tiger return to the mountains wasn't done this way!
"No, no, Sister Kara!"
Tony quickly stopped her, putting on what he considered his most sincere smile.
"Why go to the North Pole? It's all ice and snow, so cold."
"Come to my place, Stark Tower, top-floor duplex with a sea view... bah, top-floor medical bay!"
"My medical pod here, while not Kryptonian, is absolutely top-of-the-line on Earth! Fully automatic massage, with background music, and you can even choose essential oil aromatherapy. I guarantee you'll be well taken care of!"
Kara looked at him suspiciously.
"Tony, what's your motive?"
"Motive? What motive could I have?"
Tony spread his hands, looking innocent.
"I'm just genuinely concerned about my teammate! Besides, if you take him away, what if he wakes up halfway and, in a bad mood, drills a hole in the Atlantic Ocean?"
"If he's with me, even if he wakes up and wants to trash the place, it'll be my place he's trashing. I have plenty of money, I'm not afraid."
What he said... seemed to make some sense.
Kara looked down at Tel-Ror.
Although he looked like a sleeping beauty now, who knew what madness he might unleash when he woke up.
Keeping him under the Avengers' watchful eyes was indeed safer than taking him back to the Fortress of Solitude, where she was the only one.
"Alright."
Kara nodded, "Then I'll trouble you."
"No trouble at all, no trouble!"
Tony was overjoyed and quickly led the way.
"This way, please, the way home, this way!"
Watching Tony, who looked like he had found a treasure, Kara couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
One day later.
Stark Tower, top-floor medical bay.
"Buzz—"
Accompanied by a faint mechanical hum, the white medical pod slowly opened, emitting a burst of cold air.
Tel-Ror sat up inside.
He shook his head, feeling as if he had slept for an entire century.
The sensation of power within his body, like a rising tide, once again filled his limbs and bones.
He looked down at himself.
Hmm, nothing on, very eco-friendly.
He jumped out of the medical pod, stretched, and his whole skeleton let out a series of crackling sounds.
"Ah, that's good!"
He looked around. The medical bay was large, with various high-tech instruments glowing.
"Tony, that guy, he's really rich."
"I suspect he just wants to trick me out of those two hundred billion."
He mumbled, then casually picked up the clothes prepared for him on the nearby chair.
A gaudy Hawaiian shirt and a pair of equally gaudy shorts.
"Hey, not bad, I like this taste."
Tel-Ror quickly put on his clothes, slipped into his flip-flops, and sauntered out.
He had already heard the fierce arguments coming from the conference room downstairs.
"...I cannot accept this!"
A righteous and serious voice rang out; it was Steve.
"The Avengers must remain independent! We cannot become guns in the hands of politicians!"
"Independent?"
Tony's voice rose eight octaves, "Steve, wake up! We almost wiped out a country! Accountability! Accountability! Do you understand?"
"We need oversight! We need someone to be responsible for our actions! Otherwise, what's the difference between us and those villains?"
"So you want us to sign an agreement and then be chained up like dogs?"
Steve's voice also carried a hint of anger.
"This isn't a chain! This is protection! Protection for ordinary people, and protection for ourselves!"
Tony's voice sounded somewhat agitated, "Tel-Ror, just talk about Tel-Ror! He evaporated Sokovia with one move! Who can control that kind of power? What if he's in a bad mood next time and unleashes it on New York? Are we just going to stand by and watch?!"
"This act is precisely to limit such uncontrollable power!"
The door to the conference room was pushed open with a "swish" at that moment.
The people inside, who were arguing, all turned their heads in unison.
They saw Tel-Ror, wearing that flamboyant Hawaiian shirt and shorts, his chest open, looking at everyone with a half-smile.
The entire conference room instantly fell silent.
Everyone's expressions were wonderfully varied.
Tel-Ror spat out his toothpick and slowly walked in.
He walked to the conference table, pulled out a chair, and sat down with a grand, imposing air.
His gaze swept over everyone present, finally resting on Tony's face.
He grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.
"Tony."
"I have no objection if you want to support that damn act."
"But have you ever considered one question?"
Tel-Ror leaned forward slightly, asking clearly, word by word:
"Do you think a piece of paper can confine me?"